With a view to promote self-employment oriented opportunities in the state and to provide livelihood to the local youth by encouraging entrepreneurship, the state government has initiated Rajiv Gandhi Swarozgaar Yojna-2023 (RGSY) with an outlay of Rs 680 crore. In the first phase, Standard of Procedures (SoP) for hiring of e-Taxi under the scheme by any government department, local authorities, autonomous body, board, corporation, government undertaking or any other establishment has been notified.
The government will give a guarantee for employment and start-up assistance to youth of the state by providing a subsidy of 50 percent on purchase of e-taxi under RGSY. The subsidy shall be computed on ex-showroom price including all types of taxes. A Bonafide Himachali with minimum age of 23 years, having an experience of 7 years to drive a vehicle, with educational qualification of 10+2 is eligible to apply for e-taxi under the scheme.
The applicant should have a valid driving license, Aadhaar Card, unemployment certificate and any of the certificates of SC, ST, OBC or EWS. Only one person in a family can avail the benefit and experience criteria can be relaxed in special cases to help the needy. Applicants have to create an account on the portal of the Transport department which will be authenticated through Aadhaar/Mobile OTP. Processing and scrutiny of applications will be done at Regional Transport Officer (RTO) level and a driving test shall be conducted by a committee headed by concerned RTO with two other members.
Apart from driving skills, the applicant should have the knowledge of motor car mechanism, duties of driver, fuel, energy efficiency, basic maintenance and servicing of vehicles, traffic rules etc. After scrutinizing the applications, the transport department will make a reserve pool of the eligible e-taxi applicants which will remain valid for two years.
The recommendations of the eligible beneficiary for the sanction of subsidy to the Industries or designated department will be done on a need basis in a transparent manner. e-Taxi shall be engaged by any government department or entity who requires the new vehicle or replacement of vehicle for an initial period of four years which can be extended by another two years.
The consumer department or agency shall furnish the demand to the Transport department on the specially created online portal. For category-A Sedan car, for category-B SUV Mid range, for category-C SUV Long range, for category-D premium SUV or MUV and for category-E Luxury vehicle can be hired as e-taxi.
The minimum Automotive Research association of India/International Centre for Automotive Technology (ARAI/ICAT) range should be 250 KM, 300 KM, 400 KM, 450 KM and 450 KM respectively for these vehicles. Monthly running of the vehicle would be 2500 KMs approx or as per actual requirement. However, after plying of 30,000 KM in a year, extra charges @ Rs. 1.5 per KM shall be paid to the e-taxi owner by the concerned department. A committee will be constituted to fix the rates for engaging e-taxi.
Every department or organization engaging e-taxi shall make sure to establish the electric chargers or to engage suitable places or agreement with charging stations for making sure the charging of their vehicles. The Transport department will organize awareness camps, workshops, e-vehicle demos at RTO level to make aware the applicant and purchaser about the latest techniques, advantage and proper knowledge about the e-vehicle. The RGSY will ensure guaranteed livelihood for the youth and help the state to reduce vehicular pollution and move forward to become a Green State as well, reiterated Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
